PEOPLE
More than 99% of Lesotho's population is ethnically Basotho; other
ethnic groups include Europeans and Asians. The
country's population is 80%
Christian, the majority of whom are Roman Catholic. Other religions
are Islam, Hindu, and indigenous
beliefs. Sesotho and English are official
languages, and other languages spoken include Zulu and
Xhosa.

HISTORY
Lesotho gained independence from Britain on October 4, 1966. In
January 1970 the ruling Basotho National Party (BNP) appeared set to
lose the first post-independence
general elections when Prime Minister Leabua
Jonathan annulled the election. He
refused to cede power to the Basotho Congress Party (BCP) and
imprisoned its
leadership.

The BNP ruled by decree until January 1986 when a military coup
forced them out of office. The Military Council that came into
power granted executive powers to King Moshoeshoe II, who
was until then a ceremonial monarch. In 1990,
however, the King was forced into exile after a falling out with the
army. His son was installed as King Letsie
III.

The chairman of the military junta, Major General Metsing Lekhanya,
was ousted in 1991 and then replaced by
Major General Phisoane Ramaema, who
handed over power to a democratically elected government of the BCP in 1993.
Moshoeshoe II returned from exile in 1992 as an ordinary citizen.
After the return to democratic government, King Letsie III
tried unsuccessfully to persuade the BCP
government to reinstate his father (Moshoeshoe II) as head of
state. In August 1994, Letsie III staged a coup which was backed by
the military and deposed the BCP government. The new
government did not receive full international recognition.
Member states of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) engaged in negotiations aimed at
the
reinstatement of the BCP government. One of the conditions put forward by
the King for the return of the BCP government was that his father
should be re-installed as head of
state. After protracted negotiations, the
BCP government was
reinstated and the King abdicated in favor of his father in
1995, but Moshoeshoe II died in a car accident in 1996 and was
again succeeded by
his son, Letsie III. The ruling BCP split over
leadership disputes in
1997.

Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle formed a new party, the Lesotho Congress
for Democracy (LCD), and was followed by a majority
of Members of Parliament, which enabled him to form
a new government. The LCD won the general elections in 1998 under the
leadership of Pakalitha Mosisili, who had
succeeded Mokhehle as party
leader. Despite the elections being pronounced free and
fair by local and international observers and a subsequent special
commission appointed by SADC, the opposition political parties
rejected the results.

Opposition protests in the country intensified, culminating in a
violent demonstration outside the royal
palace in August 1998. When junior members of the armed services
mutinied in September, the government requested a SADC
task force to intervene to prevent a coup and restore stability. A
military group of South African and Botswana troops entered the
country in September, put down the mutiny, and withdrew in May 1999.
Looting, casualties, and widespread
destruction of property
followed.

An Interim Political Authority (IPA), charged with reviewing the
electoral structure in the country, was created in
December 1998. The IPA devised a proportional
electoral system to ensure that there would be opposition in the
National Assembly. The new system retained the existing 80 elected
Assembly seats, but added 40 seats to be filled on a
proportional basis. Elections were held under this
new system in May 2002, and the LCD won again. For the first
time, due to the inclusion of proportional seats, opposition political
parties won significant numbers of seats. Elections were held again
in February 2007. Nine opposition
parties hold all 40 of the proportional seats, with the National
Independent Party (NIP) having the largest share (21). The LCD has 61
of the 80 constituency-based seats, and All Basotho Congress (ABC)
holds
17.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL
CONDITIONS
The Lesotho Government is a constitutional monarchy. The Prime
Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, is head of
government and has executive authority. The King serves a
largely ceremonial function; he no longer possesses
any executive authority and
is proscribed from actively participating
in political
initiatives.

The Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) controls a majority in the
National Assembly (the lower house of parliament), with All Basotho
Congress (ABC), the National Independent Party, and the
Lesotho Workers Party among the 9 opposition
parties represented. The upper house of parliament, called the
Senate, is composed of 22 principal chiefs whose membership is
hereditary, and 11 appointees of the King, acting on the
advice of the prime minister.

The constitution provides for an independent judicial system. The
judiciary is made up of the Court of Appeal, the High Court,
Magistrate's Courts, and traditional courts that exist
predominately in rural areas. All but one of the Justices
on the Court of Appeal are South African jurists. There is no
trial by jury; rather, judges make rulings alone, or, in the case of
criminal trials, with two other judges as observers. The constitution
also protects basic civil liberties, including freedom of
speech, association, and the press; freedom
of peaceful assembly; and freedom of
religion.

For administrative purposes, Lesotho is divided into 10 districts,
each headed by a district
administrator.

Lesotho held its first post-independence local government elections
on April 30, 2005 using a quota system that reserved one-third of
electoral divisions for women candidates. In these elections, 53% of
the victorious candidates were women. Locally elected
officialsattended post-election training while
regulations for local governance were drawn up by the National Assembly
and infrastructure was
created.

Ambassador to the United States--Molelekeng Ernestina
Rapolaki
Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the United
Nations--Lebohang
Moleko

Lesotho maintains an embassy in the United States at 2511
Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20008 (tel: 202-797-5533). Lesotho's mission to the United Nations is
located at 204 East 39th Street, New York, NY 10016 (tel:
212-661-1690).

ECONOMY
Lesotho's economy is based on water and electricity sold to South
Africa, manufacturing, earnings from the Southern
African Customs Union (SACU),
agriculture, livestock, and to some extent earnings of laborers employed
in South Africa. Lesotho also exports diamonds, wool, and
mohair. Lesotho is geographically surrounded by
South Africa and economically integrated with it as well. The majority
of households subsist on farming or migrant labor,
primarily miners in South Africa for 3 to 9 months. The western
lowlands form the main agricultural zone. Almost 50% of the population
earns some income through crop cultivation or animal
husbandry, with over half the country's income coming
from the agricultural
sector.

Water is Lesotho's only significant natural resource. It is being
exploited through the 30-year, multi-billion-dollar Lesotho
Highlands Water Project (LHWP), which was initiated
in 1986. The LHWP is designed to capture, store, and transfer water
from the Orange River system and send it to South Africa's Free State
and greater Johannesburg area, which features a
large
concentration of South African industry, population, and
agriculture. Completion of
the first phase of the project has made Lesotho
almost completely
self-sufficient in the production of electricity and generated
approximately $24 million annually from the sale of electricity and
water to South Africa. The World Bank, African Development Bank,
European Investment Bank, and many other bilateral donors
financed the project. Lesotho has taken advantage of the African
Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to become the
largest exporter of garments to the U.S. from sub-Saharan Africa.
Exports totaled $466.9 million in 2004. Employment
reached 40,000. Asian investors own most
factories.

Lesotho has received economic aid from a variety of sources,
including the United States, the World Bank, Ireland, the
United Kingdom, the European Union, Germany,
and the People's Republic of
China.

Lesotho has nearly 6,000 kilometers of unpaved and modern all-weather
roads. There is a short rail line (freight) linking Lesotho with
South Africa that is totally owned and operated by South
Africa. Lesotho is a member of the Southern African
Customs Union (SACU) in which tariffs have been eliminated on
the trade of goods with other member countries, which include
Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. With the
exception of Botswana, these countries also form a common
currency and exchange control area known as the Common Monetary Area
(CMA). The South African rand can be
used
interchangeably with the loti, the Lesotho currency (plural: maloti).
One hundred lisente equal one loti. The loti is at
par with the
rand.

HIV/AIDS
According to recent estimates, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in
Lesotho is about 29%, one of the highest rates in
the world. The United Nations
estimates that this rate will rise to 36% within the next 15 years,
resulting in a sharp drop in life expectancy. According to the Lesotho
Bureau of Statistics, in 2001
life expectancy was estimated at 48 for men and 56 for
women. Recent statistics estimate that life expectancy has fallen to
an average of
36.81.

The government of Lesotho was initially slow to recognize the scale
of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and its efforts to date in
combating the spread of the disease
have met with limited success. In 1999, the government finalized its
Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS, a diagram for addressing the
education,
prevention, counseling, and treatment needs of the populace. In late
2003, the government announced that it was forming a new
National AIDS Commission to coordinate society-wide anti-AIDS
activities. Also in 2003 the Government of Lesotho hosted a SADC
Extraordinary Summit on HIV/AIDS. In July 2005
legislation was passed to create the National AIDS
Commission.

DEFENSE
The security force is composed of the Lesotho Defense Force
(LDF--estimated 4,000 personnel) and the Lesotho Mounted Police
Service (LMPS--estimated 3,000-4,000
personnel). The LDF consists of an army, an air wing, and
a paramilitary wing. The LDF answers to
the Prime Minister (who is the Minister of Defense and National
Security and also the Minister of Public Service), while
the Lesotho Mounted Police Service reports to the Minister of
Home Affairs. There also is a National
Security Service (NSS), Intelligence, which is directly accountable to
the Prime Minister. Relations between the police and the army
have occasionally been tense, and in 1997 the army was called
upon to put down a serious police
mutiny.

FOREIGN
RELATIONS
Lesotho's geographic location makes it extremely vulnerable to
political and economic developments in South Africa. It is a member
of many regional economic
organizations including the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Lesotho also is
active in the United Nations, the African Union, the Nonaligned
Movement, the Commonwealth, and
many other international organizations. In addition to the United
States, South Africa, China, Libya, Ireland (Consulate General), and
the European Union all currently retain resident diplomatic missions
in Lesotho. The United Nations is
represented by a resident mission as well,
including UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, FAO, WFP, and
UNAIDS.

Lesotho has historically maintained generally close ties with the
United States, the United Kingdom, Germany,
and other Western states. Although
Lesotho decided in 1990 to break relations with the People's Republic
of China (P.R.C.) and reestablish relations
with Taiwan, it has since restored ties with the P.R.C. Lesotho
also recognized Palestine as a state, was a
strong public supporter of the end of apartheid in South Africa, and granted
a number of South African refugees political asylum during the
apartheid
era.

U.S.-LESOTHO
RELATIONS
The United States was one of the first four countries to establish an
embassy in Maseru after Lesotho gained its independence from Great
Britain in 1966. Since this time, Lesotho and the United States
have consistently maintained warm bilateral relations. In 1996,
the United States closed its bilateral aid program in Lesotho. The
Southern African regional office of the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) in Gaborone, Botswana now administers
most of the U.S. assistance to Lesotho, which totaled approximately
$2 million in FY 2004. Total U.S.
aid to Lesotho is over $10 million, including humanitarian food
assistance. The Peace Corps has operated in Lesotho since 1966.
About 100 Peace Corps volunteers concentrate in the sectors of health,
agriculture, education, rural community development, and the
environment. The Government of Lesotho encourages greater American
participation in commercial life and welcomes interest from potential
U.S. investors and suppliers.

TRAVEL AND BUSINESS
INFORMATION
The U.S. Department of State's Consular Information Program advises
Americans traveling and residing abroad through Consular Information
Sheets, Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings.
Consular Information Sheets exist for all countries and include
information on entry and exit requirements, currency
regulations, health conditions, safety and security, crime,
political disturbances, and
the addresses of the U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. Public
Announcements are issued to disseminate information quickly
about terrorist threats and other relatively
short-term conditions overseas that pose significant
risks to the security of American travelers. Travel Warnings are
issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid travel
to a certain country because the situation is dangerous or
unstable.

For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling
abroad should regularly monitor the Department's Bureau
of Consular Affairs Internet web site at http://www.travel.state.gov, where the
current Worldwide Caution, Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings
can be found. Consular Affairs Publications,
which contain information on obtaining passports and planning a safe
trip abroad, are also available at http://www.travel.state.gov.
For additional information on international
travel, see http://www.usa.gov/
Citizen/Topics/Travel/International.shtml.

The Department of State encourages all U.S citizenstraveling or
residing abroad to register via the State
Department's travel registration website or at the nearest U.S.
embassy or consulate abroad. Registration will make your presence and
whereabouts known in case it is necessary to contact you in an
emergency and will enable you to receive up-to-date information on
security
conditions.

Emergency information concerning Americans traveling abroad may be
obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and
Canada or the regular toll line 1-202-501-4444 for
callers outside the U.S. and
Canada.

The National Passport Information Center (NPIC) is the U.S.
Department of State's single, centralized public
contact center for U.S.
passport
information. Telephone: 1-877-4USA-PPT (1-877-487-2778). Customer
service representatives and operators for TDD/TTY
are available Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight,
Eastern Time, excluding federal
holidays.

Travelers can check the latest health information with the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
A hotline at 877-FYI-TRIP (877-394-8747) and a web site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm
give the most recent health advisories, immunization recommendations
or requirements, and advice on food and drinking water safety for
regions and countries. A booklet entitled "Health
Information for International Travel"
(HHS
publication number CDC-95-8280) is available from the U.S.
Government Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402, tel. (202)
512-1800.

Further Electronic
Information
Department of State Web Site. Available on the Internet at
http:// www.state.gov, the Department of State web
site provides timely, global access to
official U.S. foreign policy information, including
Background Notes and daily press briefings
along with the directory of key officers of Foreign Service
posts and more. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) provides
security information and regional news that impact U.S. companies
working abroad through its website http://www.osac.gov

Export.gov provides a portal to all export-related assistance and
market information offered by the federal
government and provides trade leads, free export counseling, help
with the export process, and
more.
STAT-USA/Internet, a service of the U.S. Department of Commerce,
provides authoritative economic, business, and
international trade information from the Federal
government. The site includes current and
historical
trade-related releases, international market research, trade
opportunities, and country analysis and provides access to the
National Trade Data Bank.
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Lesotho Country Facts